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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillyG who wrote (34908)	8/3/1998 7:14:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

You can buy a HDTV set and settop for less than $7,500, but you can't get a signal.................... usatoday.com 08/02/98- Updated 08:59 PM ET The Nation's Homepage First consumer HDTV sets to go on sale The first consumer high-definition TV sets go on sale this week, marking the start of the new era of digital television. Panasonic has begun shipping 56-inch rear-projection sets to retailers nationwide; the first are expected to be sold Thursday in San Diego. Initially, those who pay the $5,499 to $5,999 per set will have no digital TV signals to receive. But some local TV stations and satellite companies are gearing up to begin digital TV (DTV) broadcasts this fall, when other manufacturers will roll out more models of digital TVs. The Panasonic set will display full high-definition TV (HDTV) on its wide-screen display - more like the dimensions of a movie screen than most current TVs. The improved picture is achieved with 1,080 horizontal lines of resolution; todays TVs offer 525 lines. "It is starting. This is a step toward HDTV," says Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association. Early adopters who buy Panasonics new set (model PT-56WXF90) can watch current TV broadcasts; a built-in scan converter will boost those signals for a better picture. "We think this is really going to give, far and away, the best picture on a projection TV, even for conventional TV images," says Panasonic's Bill Mannion. Among the sets other features is a "Catch-Up" function that stores video stills and audio of a program while a viewer leaves the room. It will play back the stills and audio back until the viewer catches up with the program. The set will also display two full-sized split-screen broadcasts simultaneously (typical picture-in-picture features display one broadcast in a small window.) But to receive and convert digital signals (from off-the-air, cable or satellite) the Panasonic TV will require a set-top decoder box, due in October. Such boxes will decode a variety of forms of DTV signals, including HDTV, for display. The San Diego-based Dow Stereo/Video chain, which begins selling the sets at noon Thursday, expects to sell the decoder box for about $1,500.